Eng reflection essay

A Mind Corrupting Lifestyle Institution Author

I remember the day the results were released like it was yesterday. The good news was that I had made it to university. Upon hearing the news, my family and I could not hide our excitement, with my mum singing and dancing around the house as my dad sat outside under the shade making calls to family and friends telling them the good news. My siblings kept calm, but I could still see it in their eyes how jovial they were. Tears of joy trickled down my sister’s face and my brothers facial expressions showed how proud they were of me. Now I had a chance to pursue my dreams and change the world and make it a better place for everyone one way or another.

That was my party! After the all the merriment had subsided, we sat down as a family to figure out what was next for me now that I had made it to university. Before I knew it, my first day at the campus was here. My dad had accompanied me on this long journey to help me get to school in time for registration and to help me sort out my accommodation and move in. I dare say the journey was rather longer than usually. My emotions were through the roof, wondering what my experience on campus would be like. However, I was also in fear of the unknown.

After a couple of hours the long wait was finally over and finally we arrived. When my eyes first beheld the scenery, there seemed to be a lot to take in. The buildings, the number of people walking around, it was amazing and somehow satisfied my perceptions about what was ahead of me. The registration and accommodation were over within no time, and I was in my room with my new roommate who quickly became my friend. I had also made a new friend earlier. When my new friend and roommate got to give me an overview of what to expect in the coming days, the revelations threatened and totally changed my views and perceptions about campus life. Since I had made it to campus, I thought that I had to act like it. I assumed I was supposed to act in a distinguished manner at the University, preceding all the social misfits of this world. I had to behave in a manner that reflected how bright I was academically. This was not the case.

The students in this university behaved immaturely and acted carelessly as you would expect ignorant people too. The students party day and night, week in week out, with some even either going to the examination rooms while drunk or missing out on the exams just because they were out drinking the day prior to the examination. The students involve themselves in risky sexual behavior, such as engaging in sex with multiple partners, causing many to get unwanted pregnancies that they abort. My roommate narrated for me painfully how one day they woke up to the horror of finding an almost fully developed fetus at the dumping site. As surprising as this may sound, this did happen despite the efforts that have been made by some to counter the occurrence of such social evils. Here are a people who are educated with high potential doing things with great disregard of the shame and danger that lurks ahead. To think that these students are the ones expected to be the leaders of tomorrow scares me.

Call me naive or a conservative, but are not these the things that we are supposed to be educated to fight against? How then will we fight HIV and AIDs and other sexually transmitted diseases? Stop liver cirrhosis and lung cancer if the people that have the chance to learn and explore how these conditions are affecting various economies and destroying lives are not able to practice self-control and counter their spread and occurrence? On the contrary, they are the ones, in fact, aiding the faster spread of the diseases, where will our help come from then? As these thoughts lingered through my mind, my roommate apparently had realized that I was taken aback by what he was telling me, then he said something that made me determined more than ever not to fall prey of the campus lifestyle that is swaying many. He said to me,” Don’t worry because it won’t be long before you join the pack”. As the plain words fell on my ears, that very moment I made a promise to myself not to let it happen.

After unpacking as my roommate gave me an update on what has been happening on campus, who is who and the campus calendar. We finally left for a stroll in the campus premises to get a better view of the various locations and amenities within the campus. As we walked by, in my mind I kept contemplating on how many students come to the university as innocent as I am charged with the responsibility of learning and becoming responsible and successful people who can be relied on and looked up to by their parents, siblings and children. I tried to understand why students would let the atrocities of this world crush their dreams. Well, I can’t tell because nobody keeps the statistics. Behold my promise still stands and if am going to keep it only time will tell.